All those years of toil and education, to
get him so far on his life-voyage; and here is the end thereof!'
'Say rather, the beginning thereof,' Claude answered, stepping into
the boat. 'This wreck is but a torn scrap of the chrysalis-cocoon;
we may meet the butterflies themselves hereafter.'
* * * * *
And now we are on board; and alas! some time before the breeze will
be so. Take care of that huge boom, landsman Claude, swaying and
sweeping backwards and forwards across the deck, unless you wish to
be knocked overboard. Take care, too, of that loose rope's end,
unless you wish to have your eyes cut out. Take my advice, lie down
here across the deck, as others are doing. Cover yourself with
great-coats, like an Irishman, to keep yourself cool, and let us
meditate little on this strange thing, and strange place, which holds
us now.
Look at those spars, how they creak and groan with every heave of the
long glassy swell. How those sails flap, and thunder, and rage, with
useless outcries and struggles--only because they are idle.
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